Junior tailback Ryan Schwartz gained 194 yards rushing and scored all three of his team's touchdowns as Benedictine University topped Rockford College, 20-14, in a Northern Athletics Conference game (NAC). The win upped the Eagles to 2-6 overall and 2-3 in the NAC.
Schwartz carried the ball a workman-like 27 times, averaging 7.2 yards per carry. He scored on runs of seven, 17 and 37 yards as the Eagles rolled up a total of 276 rushing yards as a team.
In all, Benedictine out-gained the Regents in total offense by a 376 to 245 margin.
Freshman quarterback Derek Hitt was five-for-nine passing for 100 yards.
Three of those passes went to freshman receiver John Borsellino , good for 59 yards. Tight end Shawn Morris had two grabs for 41 yards.
In the Early going, however, the statistical battle seemed to be in Rockford’s favor. The Regents scored on their first possession of the game, driving 65 yards in nine plays and consuming 4:45 minutes off the first quarter clock.
Benedictine was able to knot the game at 7-7 with just 2:01 left in the first half, beginning the drive from the RC 43 after the Eagles’ defense had pinned the Regents in their own end.
An 11 yard carry by Schwartz was followed by a nifty 25-yard aerial from Hitt to Morris that produced a first-and-goal from the Rockford seven yard line. Schwartz took the handoff and barreled in for his first score of the afternoon. Brian Goff’s extra point made it 7-7.
Late in the third stanza, Benedictine was able to take the lead it would never relinquish. The drive opened with another big pass by Hitt, this time to Borsellino for a 38-yard pickup. Hitt ran a keeper for two yards, followed by an 11-yard gainer from Schwartz. On the first-and-ten from the RC 17, Schwartz sliced through the Regents’ defenders and galloped to the endzone. The extra point failed and the Eagles led 13-7.
The Benedictine defense again rose up on the ensuing series, highlighted by a sack from Alex Dewey, to force a three-and-out. After the punt, the Eagles began their next scoring series from their own 33.
Fullback Eric Ritter exploded for a 30-yard jaunt that moved the ball well into Rockford territory. Not to be outdone, on the very next carry, Schwartz accelerated around right end and just outran the RC coverage on the 37 yard touchdown burst. The PAT kick made it 20-7 with 36 seconds remaining in the third period.
But the fireworks were far from over, as the teams battled for the bulk of the fourth quarter and Rockford was finally able to add another score with just 1:48 on the game clock.
With the score now 20-14, the Regents tried an on-side kick – which the recovered – only to find it nullified by an off-sides call. On the second attempt at the on-side kick, Benedictine fell on the ball to effectively seal the win.
Dewey led the Benedictine defense with 11 total tackles. Defensive back Mike Hatfield added nine tackles. Eddie Hill Jr., Kyle Schulz and Devin Montgomery each had seven tackles. Schulz was credited with 1 ½ sacks, while Hill had one sack. Tim Shanahan had his second interception of the season and forced a fumble.
Defensive linemen Steven Donovan and Dan Miller had four quarterback hurries (three for Donovan) between them, harassing the Regents tandem of signal-callers all game.
For Schwartz, the big day rushing was his sixth 100-yard rushing game of his career. The 194 yards was the second-best total of his career (his high game was 204 yards last season).

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Benedictine University is an independent Roman Catholic institution located in Lisle, Illinois just 25 miles west of Chicago. Founded in 1887, Benedictine provides 56 undergraduate majors, 16 graduate and four doctorate programs. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ranked Benedictine University as the seventh fastest-growing campus among private nonprofit master’s universities, and Forbes magazine named Benedictine among the top 20 percent of America’s colleges for 2011. Benedictine University’s Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program is listed by Crain’s Chicago Business as the fourth largest in the Chicago area in 2011.